Russia biggest support in creating uranium reserve for India

Russia is the biggest contributor to India's 'strategic uranium reserve'. India's Prime Minister's Office, in a written reply to Parliament, said "Russian firm JSC TVEL Corporation is supplying uranium to India.

In 2015-16, India imported 303.78 megatons of Natural Uranium Di-oxide Pellets while 42.15 megatons in the form of Enriched Uranium Di-oxide Pellets from Russia. In 2014-15, imports from Russia totaled 296.54 megatons."

Apart from Russia, Kazakhstan and Canada also supply uranium to India. India imported 250.74 megatons of Natural Uranium Ore-Concentrate from the Canadian firm Cameco in 2015-16. No consignment arrived from Kazakhstan during the same period.

Sources say that India is planning to create 15,000 megatons of strategic uranium reserve for its nuclear reactors. Apart from the Hyderabad Nuclear Fuel Complex, India is also building another nuclear fuel complex in its western part. India has 21 working nuclear power reactors, with an installed generating capacity of 5,780 MWe. Out of these, 13 reactors comply with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards and are eligible for imported fuel.

Apart from these 21 nuclear reactors, Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for the Prime Minister's Office says, "the Kudankulam Unit-2 also attained first criticality (start of controlled self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction in the reactor for the first time) on July 10, 2016. This unit also uses imported fuel."